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Guys and Dolls

Author: Jose Harrison

Information

Date
26th April 2018
Society
Littlehampton Players Operatic Society
Venue
The Windmill Theatre
Type of Production
Musical
Director
Carole Paternoster & Katie Newman
Musical Director
Daniel Paine
Choreographer
Katie Newman

Damon Runyon’s tales of gangsters and gamblers can still draw you in and make you care about the characters, even though they are basically an unsavoury crowd. The story features a group of men trying to find a secret location to enable them to “Shoot Crap” whilst trying to avoid being caught by the eagle eyed Officer Brannigan played by Jimmy Lynch. This contrasted with a group of Salvationists from “Save a Soul Mission” dedicated to cleansing the souls and recruiting sinners under the guidance of General Cartwright played by Tracy Lynch. The set was simple, but very effective, with projected backcloths and small pieces of set enabling the scene changes to be slick and therefore not distracting from the performance. The lighting was good, as was the sound quality and orchestra which added to the production, supporting the singers and helping to keep the whole story line alive. The entire cast portrayed their characters well using American dialogue mixed with humour and believable characterisation.

At the top of my list comes Nathan Detroit, played by Robin Sheppard, whose sole aim in life was to arrange venues for  gambling, complicated by his long term engagement of 14 years to Miss Adelaide, a show girl at the Hotbox Night Club, played by Victoria Unsworth.  Both performers delivered good interpretations of their characters and played well against each other. Victoria’s version of “a poyson could develop a cold” was outstanding and their joint number “Sue Me” was delightful. The second couple was Sky Masterson, a notorious gambler played by Ben Cassan, and Sister Sarah Brown of Save the Soul Mission, played by Chloe Shepherd.  Both delivered a good interpretation of their characters, blending well together. “I’ve Never been in Love Before” has always been a favourite of mine and Ben’s version of “My Time of Day” showed him to be an excellent singer.

As for the other performers, possibly the Guys had the edge on the Dolls with Oliver Shanks, playing Nicely Nicely Johnson, giving a strong performance in “Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat”, James Mitchell, who played Benny Southstreet, Phil Wotton as Rusty Charlie and John Chambers playing Big Julie, giving excellent performances.  The character Arvide Abernathy was played by a female cast member, Joan Skingley who sang “More I Cannot Wish You”, delivering a strong performance of this musical number beautifully.

The principals were well supported by the rest of the cast who all gave a great performance from the start to finish. The production team can be justifiably proud of producing an enjoyable show which the audience seemed to enjoy.

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